“Could adjust how much of a lead we needed” explains ex Mercedes boss Paddy Lowe when describing just how dominant was Mercedes really in 2014, contrary to the claims of Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff who say their domination was minimal compared to the current Red Bull car.

Lewis Hamilton, George Russell and Toto Wolff are moaning about Red Bull’s dominance in the 2023 Formula One season. “Even when we were fast, we weren’t that fast,” Hamilton said recently after two Red Bull one-twos in a row. But a former associate sees it quite differently in a historical context.

In 2014, Mercedes was more dominant than any other team in the history of Formula 1. At least that’s the perception of Paddy Lowe, who was Executive Director of the team at the time and therefore someone who should know. After all, Lowe was responsible at the time for the entire technical area surrounding the F1 W05 Hybrid, with which Hamilton became world champion ahead of Nico Rosberg.

“No other team in history had such a lead…”

“I don’t think any other team has ever had that much of a lead. In 2014, the situation was that we could adjust how much of a lead we needed on a given day. And that went on for a few races during the season,” Lowe said last Friday on Formel1.de’s YouTube channel.

Lowe had spoken openly for the first time in April 2021 in the podcast ‘Beyond the Grid’ about how dominant Mercedes really was at the beginning of the hybrid era in Formula 1. At the time, he revealed that Mercedes had deliberately withheld its technical superiority in order to minimize the risk of being slowed down by rule changes.

READ MORE: Harsh punishment after Hamilton slur?

Wolff says 2014 dominance was nonsense

An account denied by Toto Wolff: “Paddy must have been in a different team than I was,” said the Mercedes team boss, asked by Motorsport-Total.com about Lowe’s statements, 2021.

“The situation that an engine is turned back just because of the rules doesn’t exist. But maybe Paddy was under that impression.”

A point where it’s testimony against testimony. Lowe spoke to users at the virtual Formula 1 regulars’ table for an hour and a half about his three decades at the pinnacle of motorsport and his current job as founder of the technology company Zero Petroleum, which is dedicated to developing synthetic fuels.

He doesn’t understand why Wolff still tries to talk down the superiority of those days:

“I don’t know why people make such a secret of it. Everyone suspected it anyway. In 2014, our lead was so big that we didn’t have to call up full engine power most of the time. That was quite extraordinary in the history of Formula 1, to be honest.”

Lowe: Mercedes should be proud, not ashamed!

Lowe thinks, “There’s nothing to be ashamed of. The staff at Brixworth have simply done an outstanding job with this engine.” In his opinion, Mercedes could, on the contrary, be proud of having mastered the technological challenge of a more environmentally friendly drive system so outstandingly at the time.

“I know how much strategic input had to be made by Mercedes to ultimately be able to build this engine in Brixworth in 2014. That is one of Mercedes’ most outstanding achievements in the history of motorsport. And that has led to this immense lead, which has been quite embarrassing for the other engine manufacturers,” says Lowe.

READ MORE: Mercedes W14 new hope or just a false dawn?

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